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Opinion Contributor

Let my hoodies go!

When I read those words, I wanted to ask him: Really? No one can shrug it off? How about if it’s raining and they’re outside? OK for them to break out the hoods then, Geraldo? What if the alternative is to get their mustaches wet?

But rather than challenge these assertions of racially tinged menace, many lawmakers have decided to make a mockery of the noble hoodie by turning it into a political statement. However you come down in this controversy, the hoodie deserves better than this.

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It would be pointless to hide that I have strong feelings on this subject. I hail from western Washington state, where we know how to wear hoodies and why.

We wear hoodies because they are the perfect garment to help us negotiate unpredictable weather. Hoodies are cheap and durable. They shield our faces and hair from rain and our ears from cold winds. We use them to store things we need quickly in the pouch or side pockets. When the sun comes out, we unzip hoodies or pull them off and tie them around the shoulders or waist for later use. It’s useful to have them at the ready when the atmosphere has its constant Seattle-inspired mood swings.

Hoodies are so multi-purpose, they’re almost like a thneed from Dr. Seuss’s “The Lorax.” Everybody needs one, and most Pacific Northwesterners have several in their wardrobe. But we understand that hoodies are casual clothing. Very few of us would ever consider wearing a hoodie under a blazer, much less doing so in a legislature.

Granted, politicians wore them to make a political statement. Yet it seems all they really accomplished is to show us they really don’t know how to wear a simple, popular, nonpolitical garment. If they want to make their point, they need first to let our hoodies go.

If Samuel Clements had hoody sweatshirts back in the day, he would have have decried them as Satan's favorite garment, outside Hell. FDR might have recognized the hoody as the poor mans fur coat. Today, they are standard issue for the respected thug.

The shoe will fit in this case. In order for something to be sterotyped, the stereotype model had to be made. The rest falls into place.

Desensitizing would have been a better choice of word. I am sick and tired of seeing the uneducated ( stereotypes well termed ) in this country try and drag everyone to their levels. What is it going to take to pull some people up.

The victim, a 50-year-old Winter Springs man whose name has not been released, is on life-support at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Deputies were called to the area of Lincoln Street and Beardall Avenue about 6:30 p.m. March 26 to investigate a report of a man being beaten, Seminole County Sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Smith said.

They found the victim in the woods on the north side of Lincoln Street.

According to arrest affidavits:

A witness told deputies he heard someone screaming for help and saw two men pull the victim from his vehicle. He said he watched as one man held the victim and the other beat him in the head with a hammer.

After they dragged the victim into the woods, the men drove away in his sport utility vehicle, which was later found abandoned about a half-mile away on Garbo Jack Lane.

Investigators got a break in the case Thursday, when a tip to Crimeline named Bender and gave the street name of the second suspect.

On Friday, investigators learned Israel's fingerprints had been found both inside and outside of the victim's vehicle.

The witness was shown photo lineups and picked out Bender and Israel as the men he saw beating the victim. He said Bender was the man wielding the hammer.

Bobby Rush is a racist who demanded the Obama seat remain BLACK! Also, gangbangers wear hoodies because it conceals their identity when committing an armed robbery. Last week a hooded gumman killed a bunch of people in Bobby Rush's district. Where was hoddie wearing Bobby Rush?

The shoe will fit in this case. In order for something to be sterotyped, the stereotype model had to be made. The rest falls into place.

True. Trayvon MArtin was a violent thug who got what he had coming to him. Now Bobby Rush, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ben Jeolious are now making things up, re-inventing history and name-calling decent people who don't respect the "Thug culture". Shame on them all.

If Samuel Clements had hoody sweatshirts back in the day, he would have have decried them as Satan's favorite garment, outside Hell. FDR might have recognized the hoody as the poor mans fur coat. Today, they are standard issue for the respected thug.

If its above 60 degrees and your hood id up, you are a thug. My son wears a hoodie, but the hood is only up if its cold. Then again he is not a violent criminal. Not to mention they are not even attractive outerwear.